SCHOLARSHIP SCAMS

Many physician-parents facingblockbuster bills for college tuitionturn to scholarship search firms forhelp. These firms may guarantee thatyou'll find a scholarship, but both theFederal Trade Commission (FTC)and the US Department of Education(DOE) warn that many of themare scams. The pitch often beginswith a statement that a huge dollaramount of scholarship money goes"unclaimed" every year. Anothertrick is an offer to help fill out federalstudent aid applications free, a servicethat's already free at the DOEWeb site (www.ed.gov). Before youdecide to pay a scholarship searchservice for help, follow the advice onthe DOE's student aid site (www.studentaid.ed.gov): Ask for references,get everything in writing, and readthe fine print. For more details, takea look at the FTC's scholarship scaminformation site (www.ftc.gov/scholarship scams).